


The Last of Us

by seaunicorn



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Last of Us, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-05-29 03:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15064595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seaunicorn/pseuds/seaunicorn
Summary: Alex’s old mentor needs help finding the Fireflies - an organization that’s working on a cure for the outbreak - and the young girl named Kara who is immune to the bite of an infected might be the solution.  Alex is the only person with a contact in the Fireflies, an old friend she hasn’t spoken to in six years, Maggie Sawyer.A Zombie Apocalypse/The Last of Us AU**You don't need to be familiar with TLOU to read





	1. Part I: The Way It Was

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: Minor character deaths, graphic violence, and heavy cursing throughout the work. If you'd like to know the characters that die before reading, I 100% understand. You can ask me and I will tell you.
> 
> Otherwise, this has been fun to write. And it's been great to get back into writing fanfiction again. Enjoy :)

The slightest creak of the floorboard woke Alex from her restless slumber.

She reached under her pillow to grasp her fingers around a knife before her eyes even opened.  Another creak and she shot out of bed and launched herself at the dark figure looming in the doorway of her room.

“Alex, it’s me.”

Alex blinked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.  “J’onn?”  Alex hadn’t seen him in a few years, but she would recognize her old mentor anywhere, even in the darkness of the middle of the night.  “What are you doing here?” she asked, lowering her knife and relaxing her grip.  “How—no— _why_ did you sneak into military barracks in the middle of the night?  You could be killed.”

J’onn sighed and stretched his arms over his head.  Alex could hear his bones creak, his muscles tired.  He was getting old, and he had been living in this world for a long time.  He had a shotgun on his side, and a bow and quiver of metal arrows slung over his shoulder.  He looked tired.  “It’s a bit of a story, if you have the time.”  Before Alex could question him further, he stepped aside, revealing a teenage girl standing behind him.  She fidgeted with the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt and gave Alex a grim smile.

Alex brushed past them and looked down the hall outside her room.  Empty.  With a sigh, she quietly closed the door, giving them a little more privacy.  “Who is this?”

“Alex, this is Kara Zor El,” John said plainly.  “Kara, this is Alex Danvers.”

“And what are you doing here, Kara Zor El?” Alex asked, addressing the girl this time.

Kara glanced up to J’onn nervously.  He gave her a reassuring nod, and Kara began rolling up the sleeve of her right arm to reveal a scar that looked an awful lot like…

Alex gasped.  She gripped her knife tight, pushed her back, and held it to Kara’s throat.  “J’onn, why the hell would you bring her here?” Alex asked in an urgent whisper.  “She’s _infected_!”  The scar on Kara’s arm was roughly round, with teeth marks and skin ripped away.  It was a bite mark.

“That’s the thing, Alex.  She’s not.”  J’onn grabbed Alex’s arm and lowered the knife away from Kara’s throat.  “How long does it usually take for the infection to take over when they’re bitten?”

“Two days,” Alex said with a shrug.  “Three tops.”

“Exactly,” J’onn said.  “This bite is three weeks old.”

Alex grabbed her pocket flashlight and flicked it on, pointing it at Kara’s arm.  She kneeled down next to her to inspect the scar further.  It did look like the skin that was ripped away had healed over.  There was no blood, nothing.  It had been a lot more than three days, and here this girl stood, perfectly coherent, not starving for flesh or brains or whatever the hell else the infected wanted to eat.

“Incredible,” Alex breathed.  “If I had the equipment, some samples, I could maybe reverse engineer your biology into a—a…”

“A cure?” Kara asked, finally speaking up.  Alex nodded.  “That’s what everyone has been telling me.”

“But nobody has that equipment anymore,” Alex said, shaking her head.  She stood up from the ground, brushing off her pants.  “Not since…”

J’onn stopped her with a hand on her arm.  “I know.  But that’s not entirely true.  There are people out there with the equipment, the technology, to take this miraculous circumstance and make it a reality for everybody.”

Alex shook her head.  Who would have those resources?  The space?  The funding?  Everything you would need to create a cure.  It was J’onn’s pointed look that sparked the realization in Alex.

“No,” Alex said firmly.

“Alex, do you realize how important this is?”

“ _Not_ the Fireflies.  I’m not getting wrapped up in this shit again.”

“You’re the only one alive who still has a contact within the Fireflies.”

“That’s because I haven’t spoken with her in six years.”

“Alex, please.”

“I don’t even know if they’re still in Salt Lake City!  They could’ve moved years ago.  She could be--”

Alex couldn’t bring herself to finish that thought.  She could be _dead_ , and Alex would never know.

J’onn grabbed Alex by the arms to stop her aggressive pacing.  He looked into her eyes, and Alex felt will crumble.  J’onn always had faith in her.  How could she fail him now?  “Alex, you’re the only one I trust with this.”

“Terrible decision on your part, really.”  All she had left in her resolve was a snarky comment or two.  Alex glanced over Kara, the young girl who didn’t ask for any of this.  She couldn’t really get a read on her.  She didn’t seem scared, though.  Sad, maybe, a little lonely, but not scared.  With a sigh, Alex looked back to J’onn.  “When are you leaving the Quarantine Zone?”

“Tonight.”

“ _Fuck_ , J’onn, thanks for the notice.  Once I leave, I can’t come back here, you know that, right?”  Alex grabbed a backpack from under her bed and began filling it.  Handgun, rifle, knife, whatever ammo she could carry.  Iodine for water, as many rations as she could fit, a couple changes of clothes.  “You know better than anyone the military is not very forgiving to deserters.”

“I trust you can take care of yourself,” J’onn said with confidence.  “To be frank, I don’t know why you stuck with the military so long.”

“Turn around,” Alex twirled her finger.  Both J’onn and Kara turned to face the wall, giving Alex privacy as she stripped out of her pajamas.  She pulled on some firm but flexible pants and a flannel shirt.  She rolled up the sleeves and laced on her boots.

“Ready to go?” J’onn asked.

“Just about,” Alex said.  She stuck another knife into her boot for safe-keeping.  “You realize we’re going to need a car to get through the desert, right?  Last I checked they don’t just leave working cars lying around anymore.”  Alex zipped up her pack and slung it over her shoulders.

“I’ve got it covered.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at J’onn.  “You’ve got it covered?”

“Once we get out of the Quarantine Zone, I have a contact around Barstow.  He and his partner work on transportation.  We find James, we can get a car.”

Alex shook her head, but a small smile on her lips.  “You sure know how to have a plan for everything, don’t you?  At least that’s one thing that hasn’t changed.”

The sound of footsteps down the hall was a cause for alarm.  Alex held a finger to her lips, a quick signal for them to be silent.  The thud of steps grew closer, until they were right outside her door.  Alex held her breath until the sound made its way past and faded into the distance.

“We have to move now,” Alex muttered.  She quickly turned the lock on her door.  “Can the kid handle herself out there?”

“I’m not a kid, I’m fifteen,” Kara pouted.  Alex raised an eyebrow at her.  “I can handle myself.”

“Okay,” Alex grabbed another knife from her dresser and flipped it in her fingers.  “Can you use this?”  She held it out to Kara who eyed it for a moment.

“I’d feel more comfortable with that,” Kara said, gesturing to the pistol on Alex’s hip.

“Well this is what you get,” Alex rolled her eyes and shoved the knife into Kara’s hands.  “Use it well.”  She looked to J’onn once more and gave him a firm nod.  Alex walked up to the window, unlatched it, and slid it open.  “Let’s go.”

They got out of the building and climbed down the fire escape with no problems.  It was once they got past the building that the real trouble began.

Because Alex was in the military, she lived near the border of the Quarantine Zone, which made things slightly easier, but the part they had to get through was crawling with tanks and patrols and searchlights, especially at this time of night.  The military didn’t like people escaping.

Alex stopped at the edge of the building and held up a fist.  J’onn and Kara halted in their tracks behind her.  A patrol car drove past the street with a searchlight pointing ahead of them.  A few other groups of soldiers marched in their direction.

Alex scanned the blocks, trying to make out a plan of escape in the dark.  In the distance was a bridge over the always shallow Los Angeles River, and beyond that, the gate that surrounded the quarantine zone.  Alex placed a finger over her lips and pressed herself against the wall as the foot soldiers stomped past them down the street.

“If we go under the bridge and make it across the river, we can slip away in the park.”

“The park?  Aren’t there infected in there?” Kara looked a little nervous when she asked.

Alex was about to answer, but J’onn took the words out of her mouth.  “We stand a better chance against the infected than all these soldiers.”

“Exactly,” Alex agreed, nodding her head.  “Besides, you shouldn’t be worried about them if you’re immune.”

Kara’s eyes were empty as she pointedly looked away from Alex, avoiding a question that hadn’t been asked.

“The park is our best shot of making it out of here,” Alex sighed.  “Just follow my lead.”

Alex checked the street again, the only patrol in sight being far enough down the street that they wouldn’t be heard.  She jumped out from behind the wall and beckoned for Kara and J’onn to follow.  They crossed the street and ducked behind the next row of houses just as another patrol car rounded the corner and the light shone where they had been standing only moments before.

Alex backed up to the brick wall leading to the backyard.  “Kara, here,” she whispered, and kneeled down to give her a boost over the wall.

Once Kara was safely over, J’onn gave Alex a boost.  He was able to get over himself.

They made their way through a few blocks of houses, waiting for their moment once patrols had passed them, and crossing the streets, until they reached the river.

“Are we going to have to swim across?” Kara asked.  “I can’t swim.”

“You can’t _swim_?!” Alex scoffed.  “You should know how to—nevermind.  It’s fine.  It’s summer, so it probably won’t be much of a river.”

“We just have to cross this street and climb down.  Do we have any rope?” J’onn asked.

“I do,” Alex said, reaching into a pocket in her backpack to pull out a coil of rope.  “Just, give me a minute.”

Alex sat cross legged on the ground, in the shadows, watching the patrols pass.  After about a minute, Kara spoke up.  “Are we going yet?”

“Shh.  Hold on.”

It was another three minutes later, after another patrol had passed, that Alex stood and spoke again.  “It looks like there’s only three separate patrols circling this area.  Based on my knowledge of patrol routes it’s a small area of only a few blocks.  Between patrols, we have only thirty-seven seconds at worst to get down.  At best, forty-nine seconds.  We have to be fast, and we have to be _quiet_.”

Alex fell into silence again as another patrol car rounded the corner and drove past.

“We all go at once.  Just run.  I’ll tie the rope on the edge of the bridge.  Kara, you’ll climb down first.  J’onn, you go next.  I’ll go last.  I can hold them off if they start coming after us.  Any questions?”

Kara shook her head and gave Alex a thumbs-up.  It was…endearing.

“Alex, I really think you should go first with Kara,” J’onn said.

“Not gonna happen.”

Another patrol rounded the corner and made its way down the street.  Alex glared at J’onn, and he knew there was no arguing with her.

“On my mark,” Alex whispered.  The patrol passed the alley between their houses, but the soldiers weren’t paying any mind to their surroundings.  They inched down the street.  Thirty feet, forty feet, fifty feet.  Alex waited until they were out of earshot.  “Now,” she finally gave the signal.

All three of them took off running.

Across the street, five seconds.

Tying the knot, nine seconds.

Kara began to climb down.  J’onn followed shortly after her.  Twenty-five seconds.  Thirty seconds.  Alex hopped over the ledge and began her descent.  Thirty-six seconds.  She was halfway down.

 _Please don’t come yet, please_.

Forty seconds.  Alex glanced down to see the other two safely on the ground.

Forty-four seconds.  Her feet touched down.

The light from the next patrol car shone down the street.  Alex, J’onn, and Kara ducked into the shadow of the bridge.  The patrol rolled down the street.  Didn’t stop.  Didn’t signal.

J’onn sighed.  “We did it.”

Just as they were all basking in their moment of relief, a siren wailed throughout the Quarantine Zone.

“Shit,” Alex cursed.

“I thought they didn’t see us?” Kara frowned.

“They didn’t,” Alex said.  “But they must have realized I’m missing.  We have to move, _now._   Stay in the shadows.”

Alex sprinted across the chasm.  As she predicted, the river was currently a trickle of a stream, only a few inches deep.  They were easily able to hop over the water and continue their cross for the cabin.

The sound of footsteps signaled soldiers mobilizing on the bridge above them.

“No sign of her, ma’am.”

“Search the area.  She won’t be getting out of here alive.”

Alex overheard orders from the bridge and gulped.  This was going to be a lot harder than she wanted.

They had crossed the chasm of the river and back up the sloped sides toward the top.  They were only maybe a hundred feet from the border, but between them and the border were dozens of heavily armed soldiers.  They just had to get the gate open, and they had to get through it.  How they would do that, Alex had not a clue.

They ducked behind the edge of the bridge, still blending into the shadows, using an overturned car for more coverage.

The gates themselves were currently closed and heavily guarded.  Alex spotted the button to open the gates and an idea crossed her mind.

“J’onn, how good are you with that bow?” Alex asked.

“Pretty good.”

“Good enough to get a rock over the fence?”  J’onn gave Alex a questioning look.  “If we make some noise out there and they think we’re already out, they’ll open the gates to get to us.  I’ll shoot the controls so the gates stay open and we can make a run for it.”

“That’s risky,” J’onn said.

“I know.”

“Let’s do it.”

J’onn found a sizeable rock on the ground and attached it to one of his sturdy arrows.  It was heavy but he was strong.  He aimed over the fence and fired.

The arrow whizzed through the air, past the unsuspecting soldiers on high alert.  It soared over the fence and into the distance until CLACK!  The arrow snapped on impact and the rock clattered across the ground, echoing through the night, just enough to sound like footsteps.

For a moment, the air was dead silent.  Alex held her breath in anticipation.

“SHE’S OUTSIDE!” someone yelled.

“QUICK, OPEN THE GATES!”

“GET HER!”

The button pressed open and groups of soldiers went rushing out to find the person that wasn’t there.  Alex loaded her rifle and peered through the scope, waiting for a clear shot.  Once people stopped blocking her line of sight, she focused on the gate’s mechanism, and fired.

The crack of her gun rang through the night, startling the soldiers.  They didn’t know where it came from.  “On my mark,” Alex whispered.  She loaded her rifle again and set it up to get a shot in at one of the guards on the watch tower.

The guard peered into the night.  He caught sight of her as soon as she locked onto his head.  “THEY’RE INSIDE!” he called.  “BY THE BRIDGE!  THEY’RE IN—”

 _BANG_.

Alex pulled the trigger, and the bullet went right through his head.  The guard slumped backwards and fell out of the tower, his body hitting the ground with a soft thud.

Heads turned in their direction, finally spotting them behind the car.

“RUN!” Alex called.

She jumped over the car, slinging the rifle to her back and pulling the pistol out of her holster.  She fired a few shots at the soldiers coming at them.  One, two, three guys go down.

“CLOSE THE GATES!” another voice called.

Alex kept running, zig-zagging through the storm of bullets heading their way.  She looked back, just to make sure Kara and J’onn were behind her.  J’onn had Kara close to his side his shotgun ready if anyone got too close.  They pressed forward.

Someone pressed the button to shut the gates.  They creaked and sputtered but didn’t budge.  “Fuck!”

Alex shot him.

They were nearing the open gate.  Twenty feet away.  Ten feet away.

That’s when they heard it.  A loud, inconsistent, clicking sound, and heavy, quick footsteps.

“CLICKERS!” one of the soldiers called.

“Shit,” Alex cursed.  She quickly sliced the throat of a guard running at her and jumped over his body before blood could even hit the ground.  “We have to get into the park.  The trees will give us some cover.”

As soon as they left the gates, an infected came running out of the tree line toward the ruckus.  This guy sprinted, his face was deformed with weird growths, and he emitted a weird clicking noise.  Several others followed quickly behind, and they seemed only focused on where the most noise was coming from.

J’onn let off a shotgun blast from behind them as one of the soldiers got close to Kara.  His body flew backwards, wrecked.  Immediately, one of the clickers’ heads turned in their direction and made a beeline for J’onn and Kara.

Alex quickly grabbed a rock from the ground and chucked it at the clicker’s head just as J’onn was fending it off.  It froze for a moment, stunned.  Alex rushed forward and stabbed her knife into the back of its head.  She threw the body to the ground, away from them.

“Are you okay?”

J’onn nodded.  “Thanks for that.  Kara, let’s go.”  He pushed Kara in front of him.  Alex grabbed her by the hand and retreated to the trees while the soldiers were left to take care of the rest of the clickers.

A few men went down, but they were quickly able to take out the clickers.  A group of soldiers pulled the gate shut manually from the inside.  The ones who remained outside looked around once the infected were no longer a threat.

“They’re in the trees!” someone called. “FOLLOW THEM!”

With that, Alex took off in a dead sprint.  With J’onn and Kara following quickly behind.  They ran and ran and ran, but they could still hear the soldiers in the vicinity, hot on their trail.  They ran until they reached a street, and an old, run-down building.

“Quick,” J’onn urged.  “Inside!”

Alex ran toward the entrance and kicked open the door.  She ushered Kara inside first, and J’onn closed the door behind them.

They walked down the hall into a room that looked like sort of a multi-purpose auditorium.  There was a stage and basketball hoops and overturned chairs.  Kara picked up one of the chairs and sat down to catch her breath.

Alex looked out the window.  They hadn’t quite caught up yet, but she could see the distant glow of their flashlights.  It was only a matter of time.

“They’ll find us soon,” J’onn said.  “You two need to get out of here.”

“What do you mean the two of us?”

“I’ll hold them off as long as I can, but you must get Kara to safety.”  J’onn stood up and grabbed his shotgun, a grim look in his eye.

“I’m not leaving you,” Alex said firmly.  She stood up with him and tried to grab the gun from his hands, but instead he grabbed her arm.

“Alex,” he whispered.  “Please go.”

Alex’s eyes grew wide in fear.  “Where is it?” she asked him.  “ _Where is it?!_ ”

“Where’s what?” Kara asked.

“Why don’t you show her?”

Alex glared at J’onn, but he removed one hand from his back pocket to reveal a nasty bite mark on his wrist.

“J’onn,” Alex sighed.  She felt her eyes burn as tears threatened to spill.

“You need to go,” he said firmly.  “Now.”

Before he could protest, Alex placed her hands gently on J’onn’s face and pressed their foreheads together.  She closed her eyes.  She felt a single tear trickle down her own cheek.  J’onn wiped it away.

“Be safe, Alex.”

The voices of the soldiers grew closer.

“Let’s go, Kara,” Alex muttered, leading her out the back door.

Kara said nothing, but her eyes glistened.

As Alex closed the door behind her, she took one last look back at J’onn.  He pulled something out of his bag and winked at her.

As the door closed behind them, Alex took off running, Kara close behind her.  They climbed up the hill behind the building and watched as the soldiers poured out of the trees and into the building.  They heard yelling, scuffling, and a few gunshots.  Then, silence, for a moment.

Kara let out a sob.  Alex put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  “We have to go.”

They began to run up the hill again, when suddenly…

 _BOOM_!

The ground shook beneath their feet, throwing them off balance.  They looked back to find the entire building in flames, the result of an explosion.

Only a few, injured soldiers fled from the scene.  The rest were either already dead or trapped in the flames.  Alex let her lips turn up in a small smile.  “Thank you, J’onn.”

 

 

Alex and Kara navigated through the thick trees of the park for a few days.  They couldn’t move at a quick pace due to the abundance of infected in the woods.  Their best plan of action was to sneak their way past until they were out of the park, so it was slow progress.

Once they made it out of the trees and back onto the road it was a little easier.  It was mostly empty, save for a few scavenging animals.  The abandoned shops made it easy for them to restock on supplies.  Most stores had been picked clean long ago, but they were usually able to find something useful when they went looking.

Once they got out of the park and the air was (mostly) clear of infected, Kara grew much more comfortable than she was in the silence.  And the girl asked a lot of questions.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

“How long have you been a soldier?”

“Ten years.”

“How many people have you killed?”

“A lot.”

“How long did you know J’onn?”

Alex hesitated a moment when Kara asked this.  “A long time,” she said with a sigh.

“What are the Fireflies?”

Alex stopped in her tracks and threw her hands up in exasperation.  “Do you ever stop asking questions?!”

Kara shook her head.  “No.”

They had been walking for two days through abandoned city, and Kara’s incessant questions had only ceased when they were sleeping, eating, or fighting the occasional infected.  And this girl could eat _a lot_.  They had already burned through about twice as many rations as any normal person would consume.

They were nearing the San Bernardino Mountains, looking for a good place to pass through quickly and safely.  There was a highway through the mountains and it looked only a couple miles away.  They could get to the road by nightfall, make camp, and pass through the mountains in the morning.

They continued in silence for a while, but Kara was not a patient person either.  “So?” she asked.  “What are the Fireflies?”

Alex sighed and wiped some sweat from her brow; they had been walking a long time, and the sun burned hot today.  “The Fireflies are a rogue organization.  They’re trying to end the outbreak, find a cure, but their methods are…not exactly traditional.”

“What do you mean by that?” Kara asked.

“They’ll do whatever it takes,” Alex explained.  “And they don’t care who gets hurt along the way.”

The highway was close now, only a short walk out of the neighborhood they were currently in.  Alex scanned the houses to find the least dilapidated structure on the street for them to make camp in for the night.

Alex turned the handle and it opened easily.  She and Kara quickly slipped inside and closed the door behind them.  After Alex cleared the house to make sure it was free of infected, she dusted off the couch and offered the spot to Kara, making up her own little nook on the floor to sleep.

“Who do you know in the Fireflies?”

“What?”

Alex had laid down and was beginning to dose off when Kara’s question jarred her awake once again.

“J’onn had said that you knew someone.  In the Fireflies.”  Kara braided her hair as she explained, not looking at Alex as she spoke.  “That’s why we came to you.  Because you know where they are.”

Alex rolled over on the floor and propped her head in her hand, looking at Kara.  “It’s a long story, kid.”

Kara sat up from the couch and crossed her legs, grinning at Alex.  “I’m not that tired.”

Alex laid back on the ground, the palms of her hands under her head as dozens of memories flitted through her brain.  “Her name is Maggie,” she sighed.

 

 

_“Get off your ass, Danvers!” Maggie laughed.  “Or I’ll beat you again.”_

_Alex flicked her hair out of her face and grumbled.  It was their daily routine—not just for her and Maggie, but everyone in their military compound.  The training course.  And for some reason, Alex always struggled with scaling the fucking wall.  “Then you win again.  Fine.”_

_“Come on, I’ll give you a boost.”_

_Alex still sat, sprawled on the ground, her butt sore from the six-foot fall.  She looked up, and Maggie stood above her, the sun framing her head like a halo.  She smiled with that dimpled grin and held out a hand.  Reluctantly, Alex reached out and grasped her friend’s hand, and Maggie pulled her up to her feet with a firm grip._

_“Come on,” she muttered, and knelt down, lacing her fingers together in a support for Alex to easily step onto and clamber up the wall.  Alex sat on the top and smiled back down at Maggie._

_“Thanks,” she said._

_Instead of answering, Maggie gave her a mock salute._

_Alex laughed and jumped down to the other side of the wall, landing on her feet._

_“What was that?” Alex heard a muffled voice from the other side of the wall that was distinctly not Maggie.  “You know you shouldn’t be helping other recruits, Sawyer.  And you know what happens when you break the rules.”_

_“I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again—”_

_SMACK._

_The sound of a hand hitting a cheek pierced the morning air._

_Alex gasped.  She was frozen in her tracks, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe.  She couldn’t even scale the damn wall and come to her rescue._

_“It won’t happen again.”  Maggie’s voice was weaker this time, less confident.  “Sir.”_

_As the footsteps grew distant, Alex waited for Maggie to scale the wall herself.  She didn’t come as quickly as Alex thought she would.  Maggie seemed to linger for a moment on the other side of the wall before she heard a scuffle of boots against concrete as she climbed over and hopped down, landing on her feet next to Alex._

_“Maggie,” Alex whispered, reaching out a hand to touch her cheek._

_Maggie swatted her hand away and jogged ahead.  “Shame on you, Danvers,” Maggie said.  “I even gave you a head start!”_

_Alex chased after her and quickly caught up.  “Maggie, I—”_

_“Not now,” Maggie cut her off.  She gave Alex a pointed look that said_ , later _.  “Right now, my only focus is whooping your ass at the rest of this course.  Can’t let the rest of the loser recruits catch up to us.”_

_And with that, Maggie ran ahead, leaving Alex in the dust as she leaped over hurdles and ran toward the rope climb.  Alex shook her head and chased after her._

_They were the first to the locker rooms before lunch.  Maggie’s cheek was red by now.  She rummaged through her locker for a towel and a change of clothes.  Before she could disappear into the showers, Alex grabbed her by the wrist and slammed the locker door shut._

_“Maggie,” she whispered, and traced her knuckles along the red mark on her cheek._

_“Alex, don’t,” Maggie sighed.  “I’m fine.”_

_“You shouldn’t have helped me,” Alex frowned.  “I was fine.”_

_“How would I resist helping such a beautiful woman?” Maggie asked with a wink._

_“Don’t joke, this is serious!”  Alex glared at her._

_Maggie shrugged and took a few steps away from her, toward the showers.  “No, it’s not.  It’s normal.  I know it, you know it, everyone here knows it.”_

_“Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s right.”_

_“Of course it’s not right,” Maggie said.  “Why do you think I helped you up?  If I hadn’t it would’ve just been you instead of me.”_

_“I’d rather it have been me,” Alex replied, shrugging her shoulders._

_“Don’t say that.”  Maggie shook her head, but her eyes never left Alex’s.  “Please.”_

_Alex pursed her lips as she studied Maggie’s face.  Her eyes were dark and concerned, her eyebrows furrowed, her lips curled into a frown, but her dimples were still there._

_The door flew open as the other recruits filed into the locker room.  Maggie quickly jumped away from Alex and into the showers, leaving Alex alone in the hall of lockers as the other women shed themselves of their sweaty, dirt-stained clothing._

_Alex had wanted to speak with Maggie at lunch, but she couldn’t find her.  In fact, Maggie seemed to have disappeared for the rest of the day.  She wasn’t present at any of their afternoon training, or at dinner, and when Alex arrived back at their room, she was still nowhere to be found._

_Was she…?  No, she couldn’t be dead.  The Quarantine Zone was secure.  There’s no way any infected would have gotten inside.  Unless she was outside for some reason._

_Alex shook the thought from her head.  Maggie had no reason to be outside the Quarantine Zone.  She was fine.  Alex was just overreacting._

_The doorknob to her room turned and Alex jumped out of bed.  When the door eased open to reveal dark hair and that dimpled smile, Alex flung herself across the room to wrap her arms around Maggie.  “Where the hell have you been?” Alex asked.  “I thought you were dead!”_

_“Miss me?” Maggie laughed.  “It’s been like six hours.”_

_“It’s been seven and a half hours, actually,” Alex muttered into her neck._

_“Alex, I need to talk to you about something.”_

_“Not that I’m counting.”_

_“Alex, I—”_

_“You didn’t even say anything, you just disappeared.”_

_“Alex, I’m leaving!”_

_Alex slowly brought her hands back to her sides and took a step away from her.  “What are you talking about?”_

_“I’m leaving tonight,” Maggie said.  “And I want you to come with me.”_

_“I—I don’t understand,” Alex stuttered.  “What are you saying?”_

_Maggie took a deep breath.  “I’m joining the Fireflies.”_

_Alex scoffed.  “Excuse me?  Did you just say what I think you said?  Maggie, we’re trained to kill Fireflies.  They’re a—a radical group, a threat to society.”_

_“So is the military!” Maggie exclaimed.  “But the military is only trying to keep order.  The Fireflies are actually trying to do good.  Find a cure.  Fix this whole mess.  And Lillian thinks I can help.”  She sat down on her bed and sighed.  “Do you even remember what it was like?  Before?”_

_Alex sits down next to her and shrugs.  “Not really.  I was so young.”_

_“I remember pizza,” Maggie muttered, looking down at her feet.  “It was so good.”_

_“I remember my dad playing piano,” Alex said.  “He would have me sing along.”_

_Maggie chuckled and bumped her shoulder.  “I didn’t know you sing, Danvers.”_

_“Not anymore.”_

_A silence fell between them.  Alex could hear her own heartbeat in her ears._

_“We could have that back, you know.”  Maggie’s voice was quiet, hesitant, unsure of how Alex would react.  “The Fireflies want to bring that back.”_

_Alex nodded and turned her head to look at Maggie.  “I get that, I really do,” she said.  “But I can’t go with you.  My mother is here.  My life is here.”_

_Maggie’s eyes glistened.  Alex had never seen the other girl cry before.  “I understand,” Maggie sniffled._

_There’s a first time for everything._

_“When do you leave?” Alex asked, dreading her own question._

_“Soon,” Maggie said.  “I shouldn’t even be here right now, but I needed to see you before…”  She sighed.  “There’s two groups leaving tonight.  I’m supposed to be in the first.”_

_“Where are you going?”_

_Maggie shook her head.  “I’m not supposed to…”_

_Alex placed a hand on Maggie’s cheek and turned her head to look at her.  “Maggie, please.”_

_Instead of saying anything, Maggie leaned in, brushed her nose against Alex’s, and kissed her.  Alex gasped in surprise, but Maggie’s lips on hers, her arms wrapped around her—it’s all Alex has ever wanted.  She kissed back, but only for a moment, because as soon as she did, Maggie pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes, standing up from the bed._

_“Salt Lake City,” Maggie muttered.  “There’s a Firefly research facility at St. Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.”_

_Alex reached out, grasped Maggie’s hand in her own, and laced their fingers together, wanting to hold onto this for just a moment longer.  Maggie gave her hand a squeeze.  She leaned down and kissed her once more, soft and brief._

_“If you ever need me,” Maggie whispered against her lips.  “That’s where I’ll be.”_

Alex woke Kara before sunrise so they could get an early start on the long journey ahead of them.  They made their way onto the highway and into the pass through the mountains.  They made quick time, trekking through with ease, not crossing paths with any infected.  By the time they had crossed through the mountains, the sun was high in the sky.

They rounded the last bend of the highway to see flat, barren land stretched out before them as far as the eye could see.  The scorching sun burned their skin, hurt their eyes, and dried their mouths.

“Are we in Barstow yet?” Kara asked.

“That’s another few days, at least,” Alex explained with a frown.  “It’s a long journey ahead.  You ready?”

Kara shrugged.  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Good.”

Together, they walked off into the desert sun.


	2. Part II: Vanishing Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Kara travel through the desert and make some new friends in Barstow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another content warning for character death in this chapter.

As the sun set on the horizon, Alex’s main concern was finding shelter for the night.  They should be almost to Barstow by now, but it was too dangerous to arrive at night, and they were both getting tired.

Kara, meanwhile, hummed a song to herself as she trotted along a few feet behind Alex.  The questions had mostly died down, but this kid got bored easily and had a hard time staying quiet when that was the case.

Finally, Alex spotted in a building in the distance that grew slowly in their vision.  She stopped in her tracks and waited for Kara to catch up, then nudged her with her elbow.  “There, you see?”  Alex pointed to the building.  “We just have to make it there.  Then we’ll camp for the night and be in Barstow tomorrow morning.”

“Perfect,” Kara said with a tired smile.  They were walking all day, she had to be exhausted.  Just a bit further, and they could rest.

The building, as it turned out, was an old church.  _Great_ , Alex thought.  A single, tiny church on the horizon, absent from any other buildings or life, surrounded by a half torn-down chain link fence.  _Not creepy at all_.

“Trinity Baptist Church,” Kara read off the sign.  “God help us.”

Alex chuckled as she climbed up the dirt hill toward the church.  There were stairs on the outside of the building leading up to the second story.  Alex led them upstairs and into a room that was once the choir alcove.  There were two rows of benches, toppled over music stands, broken instruments, and sheet music was scattered across the floor.

“This will have to do for the night,” Alex said.  “And drink some water before you sleep.  Don’t want you getting dehydrated in the middle of the night.”

“Mhm,” Kara muttered, sipping from her canteen.  She was already laying down on a bench, closing her eyes, dosing off.  “G’night Alex.”

Alex smiled fondly at the girl as pulled off her backpack and sat on the other bench.  “Goodnight, Kara.”

Alex’s eyes fell closed and she quickly drifted off to sleep.

It wasn’t long before she was startled awake by a loud snarling sound.  “Shit,” Alex muttered, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.  The snarl came again, and it was a sound that Alex would recognize anywhere.  “Infected.”

She shook Kara awake, and placed a finger over her lips, telling her to be silent.  “Whasgoinon?”  Kara mumbled incoherently.

“Shhh,” Alex whispered.  “Listen.”

The snarling was even closer.  Kara’s eyes shot open.

Alex peered over the edge of the balcony to see the church, still empty, but a single figure dragged itself through the open doors, growling and jerking erratically.  Another one followed, and another, and another.  They kept coming.

“Fuck.”

Alex crawled toward the door and eased it open.  She glanced outside to find it mostly empty except for the stragglers that paced along the far end of the building, and even more in the distance, further away from the church.  Most of them had filed into the church for some reason.  _Where did they all come from?!_

“This way,” she whispered to Kara.  “Quiet.  We might be able to sneak past them.”

They gathered their bags and slung them over their shoulders.  They crawled out the door and crept down the stairs.  Alex stepped off the last step and onto the dirt ground.  She turned around as Kara stepped onto the last step, and the slightest _creak_ rang through the air.

Alex and Kara both froze, listening for any sign that they were heard.  The snarls from the church went uninterrupted.

They breathed a sigh of relief and made their way toward the broken fence they had climbed over.  Alex leapt over the fence with ease, barely making a sound.  “I’ll hold this still,” she whispered, grabbing the chains.  “Just be careful.”

Kara nodded.  “I’ll jump, I’ve got this.”  She stepped back, took a breath, and leaped over the fence.  Her foot, however, fell a little too low in the jump.  Alex couldn’t push the fence down any further without making more noise, so Kara’s foot grazed the edge of the chains.  There was a loud, metallic, clang as two fence poles smacked against each other.

The snarls inside grew quiet, for just a moment, and then came back more aggressive, and much louder.

“Kara, run!”

Alex pushed Kara ahead of her before she took off running herself.  She chanced one last glance behind them as she saw the first of the infected filing out of the church.  Some of these fuckers were fast, sprinting after them.  Alex’s feet found the road and she ran, as fast as she could, without letting Kara fall behind her.

The first of the infected gained on them.  Alex grabbed her gun and fired over her shoulder, _BLAM_.  Right between the eyes.  Brains everywhere.  She kept running.

The rest of the infected paid the one body no mind as they climbed over it, like a one-track hive mind predator after its prey.

 _BANG!_ Another one down.  Another.

Alex kept shooting until she was firing empty, but the infected just kept coming.  She didn’t have time to dig through her bag for more ammo.  “Damn, I’m out!”

“Just keep running!”

“Where?”

“Away from here!”

They followed the road toward Barstow, but buildings were still sparse.  There was nowhere they could duck into for cover.

Another infected was gaining on them.  It reached out, grasped at the shirt billowing behind her.  Alex slipped onto the ground and kicked it backwards, square in the chest.  It fell onto it’s back.  Alex climbed on top of it and stabbed it through the eye.

Immediately, she jumped to her feet and kept running.

She saw light in the distance.  Was it almost morning?  It couldn’t be.

Alex glanced behind again and saw another infected gaining on them.  This time, it grabbed Kara.  Kara screamed and slashed at it with her knife, stabbing it in the head.  It fell on top of her.  Alex ran back and pushed it off, helping her up, but two more were on them by now.

The lights were even brighter.

Alex punched one in the face, kicked it to the ground and stomped on its head.  Kara shrieked; an infected held her in its grasp.

“KARA!”

_BANG!_

The infected fell to the ground, dead.

Alex and Kara scrambled to each other, backing away from the other infected getting closer and closer.

_BANG. BANG. BANG._

Three more dropped like flies.

The lights were even brighter.  Alex squinted and held her hand up to her face.  The familiar sound of a humming engine grew closer and a car revved.  The tires screeched and made a loop around.

A black pickup truck stopped in front of them and a man with dark skin who looked no more than a few years older than Alex aimed his rifle out the window and fired another shot.

“Get in the back!” he said.  “Hurry!”

Alex helped Kara into the bed of the truck and then climbed in herself.  She tapped on the window, letting them know they were ready, and the teenage girl in the driver’s seat stepped on the gas and sped out of there.  Alex and Kara glanced at each other, then back to the swarm of infected, watching them shrink in the distance.

Alex sighed and collapsed in the back of the truck, trying to catch her breath.  She leaned her back against the window and stretched out her legs.  It was bumpy and uncomfortable, but at least she wasn’t running anymore.

Kara sat next to her, until she fell asleep.  Kara’s head fell into Alex’s lap and she snored softly.  Alex smiled and ran her fingers through the girl’s blonde locks.  Kara sighed in her sleep, somehow comforted by Alex’s presence.

Kara slept until the truck jerked to a stop inside a garage.  Alex leapt out of the truck, one hand on her gun, just to make sure she wasn’t caught in a fight off-guard.

The man with the rifle jumped out of the truck next.  He looked Alex up and down, then glanced at Kara in the truck.  He didn’t have any weapons aimed at her, but he glared, trying to look intimidating.  Alex could tell that he wasn’t very experienced in the whole intimidation thing, but she played along regardless.

“Who are you?” he asked.  “Why are you here?”

Alex held up her hands.  “My name is Alex Danvers.  I’m a friend of J’onn J’onzz, he told me to come here.  I’m looking for James.”

“You’re a friend of J’onn?” he asked, expression softening.

Alex nodded.  “Yes.  Can you help me?”

The man rolled up his sleeves and stepped up to Alex.  “I’m James,” he said, shaking her hand.  “Let’s get inside.  We’ll talk more.  Follow me.”

He walked around the truck.  Kara quickly hopped out of the bed and grabbed Alex’s hand as they followed him up the stairs, where the girl who drove the truck was already waiting for them.

“This is Lena,” James said as they walked through the door.  “It’s…just the two of us here.”

“How do you know each other?” Kara asked.

James shrugged.  “She saved my life.  And you are?”

“Kara,” she said.  “Kara Zor El.”

“Good to meet you, Kara.”

He led them into the living room of a small house; it looked like they had been holed up there for a while.

“There’s not a lot of space,” Lena said, finally speaking up.  “But you can sleep in the living room for now.”

“Any friend of J’onn is a friend of ours,” James said.  “How’s he doing?”

Alex looked away, closed her eyes.  She still hadn’t been able to say it out loud, not since it happened.  She didn’t even want to think about it.  Maybe it wasn’t real if she didn’t think about it.  “He was bit,” she muttered.

James frowned.  He was hard to read, but he seemed sincere.  He cleared his throat, giving himself a moment.  “He was a good man.”

Alex nodded, solemnly.

“Let’s get some rest,” James said.  “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Alex grabbed his arm, stopping him before he left the room.  “Thank you,” she said.  “You saved us.”

“Don’t mention it,” Lena said as she headed down the hallway.

The next morning came sooner than Alex would have liked.  The day before was long, and that night had been even longer.  They needed rest.  Kara needed rest.  She was just a kid, after all.  Teenager, but still a kid.  She was even younger than Alex was when…

Alex lost her train of thought when she smelled something.  Whatever it was it smelled good.

Lena walked into the room with plates of food.  “Breakfast!”

Alex stared at the plate that was placed in front of her.  “Are those…eggs?”

Lena nodded.  “Yes, we have a chicken.”

“Are you serious?” Alex asked, still gaping at her plate.  She hadn’t had eggs in years.  They didn’t have any chickens inside her quarantine zone.

Kara, meanwhile, had already scarfed down every last bit of food on her plate and moaned in delight.  “Mmm, so good!  Can I have some more?”

“Kara, don’t be rude,” Alex frowned.  “We’re guests here.”  She took a bite of eggs and damn if she didn’t agree.  It was delicious.

“It’s no trouble,” Lena said.  “I’ll have James whip up some more.”

After everyone had eaten their fill, the four of them sat around the living room talking like old friends.  They knew they needed to discuss the serious business, but no one wanted to.  They would put it off a little bit longer to enjoy this moment where they didn’t have to worry about infected.

“I was on my ass, about to die, when this fucking ten-year-old child obliterates the clicker with a home fashioned flamethrower and for a second I honestly thought I died because there was no way what I was seeing was real.”

Alex and Kara both laughed at the story.

“That was four years ago,” Lena explained.  “And I haven’t let him live it down since.”

James chuckled to himself.  “Sorry, we don’t get many visitors, and it’s a fun story.  Not a lot of people, or infected for that matter, venture this far out into the desert.”

“I have one question,” Alex piped in.  “How did you fashion yourself a flame thrower when you were ten years old?”

Lena shrugged and blushed, obviously a little embarrassed by Alex’s question.  “I’ve always had a knack for tinkering and fixing things up.  I’m quite good at it.”

“She fixed up that car for us last year,” James explained.  “It’s made life so much easier.”

Alex and Kara exchanged glances.  Alex pursed her lips.  “That’s kind of what we’re here for.”

James raised an eyebrow.  “What, our car?”

“Not that car specifically,” Alex explained.  “But we need a car, and J’onn said you could help with that.”

“Well, that’s our only car right now,” James said with a sigh.  “Fixing up another one?  What’s that gonna take, Lena?”

“Well, all I need is a car in one piece with an engine.  The engine doesn’t have to be operational, I can get it running,” Lena said, mostly talking to herself.  “If we can get it to the garage I have all the equipment I need here.  Once all that’s settled it’ll take me…maybe a week, at most.”

“A week?”

“Maybe less.”

James crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back against the couch.  “What brings you out into the desert anyway?  Where are you headed?”

Alex looked to the ground.  “Salt Lake City.”

“And what’s so important in Salt Lake City?”

Alex bit her lip, contemplating her answer.  “An old friend,” she said simply.

James looked to Lena and they both nodded.  “Okay,” he said.  “There’s a few cars down the block that are intact.  We’ll get that into the garage later today so that Lena can get to work.”

Alex’s lips turned up in a smile.  “Thank you.”

“But first,” Lena said, “you should hear about the time James tried to make friends with an infected horse.”

It was long work later that day, pushing the car down the street.  The early autumn sun was still just as scorching as late summer.  There wasn’t much of a difference between seasons in the desert of Southern California.

James gave them a tour of their facility while Len started her work in the garage.  “We’ve got the two bedrooms and the living room,” he said, walking down the hall, gesturing.  The kitchen is caved in and unusable so we do all our cooking outside.”  He hopped through an open window and led them to an enclosed yard area surrounded by brick walls where there was a firepit along with a handful of other contraptions and a chicken running around freely.  A side table sat next to the fire with pots and pans that were taken from the kitchen.  Across the yard was a large trench with some device over the top.  And next to the door was what looked like solar panels.

“Lena’s been working on fixing up the panels so we can get some power.  It’s taking her longer than she thought but it should only be a matter of time.”

“And that?” Kara asked, pointing at the trench in the ground.

“Well, we don’t get a whole lot of water out here.  No rivers or lakes or anything.  We can usually collect enough from the occasional rainfall and morning dew to get by, but Lena made this and it collects water from the humidity in the air.  It’s not a lot, but it’s more than we would have had.”  James had a proud grin on his face as he talked about Lena and her inventions.  As he spoke, the chicken walked up to them and pecked at James’ feet.  “Oh, and this here is Gladys.”

“How old did you say she was again?” Alex asked, impressed.

“Gladys? Actually, I’m not really sure, we just found her one day and I’m not a vet so—”

“Not the chicken, Lena.”

“Oh!” James said with a laugh. “She’s fourteen.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right?”

Alex enjoyed the company during their time in Barstow.  Lena spent most of the day hard at work on the car, tinkering and toying with different parts of the engine to get it to work.  Kara would often accompany her, asking questions about what she was doing, what tool was which, how she learned all this.  Lena never seemed annoyed.  At least, not as annoyed as Alex often became at Kara’s constant questions.  It was good for Kara to have someone around her own age to talk to, at least for a little while.

And James was right—it was quiet.  They didn’t encounter a single infected or another human their entire time there.  It must get lonely for the two of them, but at least it was relatively safe.  Alex would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little disappointed when the engine of their car revved to life four days later.  She and Kara were both rather quiet for the rest of the day because they knew what it meant: they would have to leave soon.

Their last night in Barstow was a fun one.  They sat outside around the fire, roasting their food together, sharing stories and laughing.  James even brought out an old guitar he found and began to play.

The next morning, Alex and Kara got an early start.  The woke just as the sun was rising above the horizon.  Lena was already waiting for them in the garage.

“I assume you know how to drive,” she said to Alex, tossing the keys to Alex.  “I fixed it up to function like normal, but if you’re ever in an emergency and need to go a little faster, I added this button.”  She pointed out the button for the hazard lights.  “It’s only for one-time use so please use it wisely.  I also was able to get the AC and the radio working again.  I left some old CDs in the glove compartment.”

Kara flung her arms around Lena in a tight hug.  “Thank you,” she muttered.  “We’ll miss you guys.”

“I’m happy to help.”

James opened the garage door and came down the stairs with a large bag.  “Something else for you, before you go.”  He unzipped the bag to reveal a shotgun, a revolver, and a pistol sitting on top of a few rounds of ammunition for each gun.  “We’ve got some weapons stocked up.  Figured you’d need these more than us.

Alex took the bag from his hands.  “Thank you,” she said, and grasped his hand to shake it.  Instead, he pulled her closer and hugged her.

“It’s been real,” James said.  “Good luck out there.”

“You too.”

Alex climbed into the driver’s seat of the old Jeep and Kara climbed into the passenger seat.  They put the bag of weapons into the back.

Alex started the engine with a satisfying hum.  She rolled down the window to speak to James and Lena again.  “I hope this isn’t the last time we cross paths.”

“Me too,” Lena replied.

James walked past the car and pulled up the garage door.

The moment he pulled it up, an infected stormed into the room, lunging at James.

“Fuck!”

James reached for a hammer from Lena’s toolbox, the only thing within reach, and smashed it at the creature.  “Alex, go!” he called.

Another infected crawled inside, slowly heading for Lena, who scurried up the stairs, searching for something she could use to protect herself.

Alex threw the car in reverse and ran it over with a satisfying squelch, but there was still the one coming for James.

“Alex, we have to help him!” Kara begged.

“We have to get you out of here!”  Alex had made a promise to J’onn.  As much as she loved spending time with James and Lena, this was the reality they lived in.

Alex made a three-point turn and was about to drive down the street, when _BANG_!  She glanced over to the passenger seat to find Kara, pistol in hand, and the infected, dead on the ground, a bullet through the head.

James gave them one last nod before he kicked the bodies outside and pulled the garage door shut.

“Where’d you learn to use that?” Alex asked.

“Same place as you.”

Alex nodded.  She should’ve figured Kara was a military recruit.

She stepped on the gas and got the car moving out of the neighborhood.  The few other infected in the area ignored the garage for the roar of the engine of Alex’s Jeep.  Alex was able to lead them all away from James and Lena, and easily lost them thanks to the car.

They were soon out of the city and back onto the open desert road.  And it was hot.  Even though Lena got the air conditioning working in the car, it sputtered out whenever you put it on anything higher than the lowest setting, so all they had was a slightly cool breeze while the sun scorched their skin and baked the black seats through the windows.

Even Kara was too hot to keep talking.  The two of them could feel themselves growing increasingly grumpy with each passing hour until the sun set.

It was dark, and Alex could feel herself falling asleep at the wheel but there was nowhere to stop.  It was all just open road and desert.  Her head started to droop and her eyes began to close, until she realized she had drifted too close to an overturned semi-truck.  She jerked awake and turned the wheel, barely scraping the side.

“Alex, pull over,” Kara muttered.

“There’s nowhere to stop.”

“Just pull over.  You’re gonna get us killed.  We’ll sleep in the car.”

As much as Alex hated admitting it, Kara was right.  “Fine,” she said.  She pulled off the road and drove a little way out before stopping the car and turning it off.

Kara immediately reclined her seat and closed her eyes.  “Goodnight Alex.”

Alex followed suit, turning onto her side away from the other girl.  “Goodnight Kara.”

The next day was worse.

They woke up to the scorching sun blinding them in their sleep.  It was early morning and Alex was already sweating, and it was only going to get hotter from here.  She turned on the car so she could eat her morning rations in somewhat comfortable temperatures.

About halfway through their drive, the AC sputtered out and stopped working.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

Alex pulled off the road once again and stopped the car.

“Just keep going,” Kara complained.  “The sooner we get out of this hellhole the better.”

“I’m not going to last more than an hour driving with no working AC,” Alex muttered as she took some of the dashboard casing off to fiddle with it in the hopes of getting it to work.

“We’ll just roll down the windows,” Kara whined.

“Oh yeah nothing helps me cool off more than hot wind and dust blowing in my face.”

Kara and Alex were both sweaty, dehydrated, and short-tempered.  Alex hoped for a quick fix and then they would be on the road.

An hour later, Alex was still sitting there, trying to splice together some wires, praying for something to work.

“You know if you had just kept going we’d be out of the desert by now.”

“No, we wouldn’t.  We still have a long way to go.”

“Well we’d be an hour closer to getting out of the fucking desert.”

“And we’d still be just as grumpy.”

“None of this would have happened if you kept trying to blast it higher,” Kara accused.  “We both knew it wasn’t going to work!”

“I can’t _believe_ I agreed to take you to the Fireflies!  Not only am I stuck in the middle of the desert with _you_ with no AC, but I have to face that stupid, corrupt, radical, catastrophic, dangerous group again, and—”

“What do you have against the Fireflies?” Kara asked.

Alex froze with the wires in her hand.  “W-what?”

“Your friend Maggie is in them, but you seem to hate them so much.  Why?”

Damn this kid was insightful.

“Another time, Kara,” Alex said, trying to silence her out and get back to work fixing the AC.

“If we’re going to be stuck here you might as well tell me.”

Alex paused her work again.  The sun was going down soon and they might as well stop for the night.  She looked at Kara.  Kara had her arms crossed over her chest and a determined look on her face.  The sun was starting to set and Alex was nowhere near getting the air conditioning working again.  It didn’t look like she was getting out of this one.

“It was the night that Maggie left,” Alex started, and the horrible memory washed over her like the tide.

 

 

_Maggie had been gone an hour and Alex hadn’t moved, still frozen in place where she sat on the bed.  The place they sat, where they kissed.  Had she left the Quarantine Zone by now?  How far away was she?  Would Alex ever see her again?  Alex couldn’t stop running these questions through her mind over and over again._

_That is, until an alarm sounded._

_Alex jumped to her feet, ready for action.  She grabbed the sidearm from her drawer and opened the door, looking down the hall._

_It was chaos.  Other recruits were running, supervisors giving orders.  “What’s going on?” she asked._

_“The Fireflies are attacking the Lab!”_

_“The Lab?” Alex asked.  The only answer that met her was yelling commands and distant gunfire._

Mom _, Alex thought._

_Alex’s mother, Eliza Danvers, was one of the most brilliant scientists in the world.  The military recruited her when the outbreak happened, hoping she would be able to help find a cure.  That’s how Alex ended up in the Quarantine Zone, training with the military.  It’s where her mother worked._

_Instead of running down the hall, Alex clambered out the window and down the fire escape.  She sprinted across the street and down the block, the familiar route that she took to visit her mom._

_The lab windows were broken and there were hot red flames coming from within the building.  The gunfire was louder.  Alex sprinted into the building._

_“MOM?” she called, coughing as she inhaled smoke into her lungs._

_Alex crept up behind someone who wasn’t in their usual military gear who had a silver pendant hanging from his neck.  A Firefly.  She shot him down and ran past, toward her mother’s lab._

_The smoke cleared a bit, and Alex ran through the doors just in time to see another Firefly shoot Eliza Danvers twice in the chest._

_Alex didn’t even think before she reacted.  She raised her arm and put a bullet straight into his brain.  As he slumped to the ground, two other Fireflies darted out, attempting to run away from the room._

_Alex fired her gun again.  One figure she nicked in the shoulder but they were still able to climb out the window and escape.  Another she got right in the thigh and they fell forward, trying to claw their way out of this mess._

_Alex kicked them in the head and their helmet flew off, revealing Lex Luthor, son of the woman who lead the Fireflies.  “Why her?” Alex asked, furious.  “Why Eliza Danvers?  She’s helping people.”_

_“She may be helping, but she works for the military,” Lex said.  Alex stepped on his chest and pressed her boot into him, keeping him in place.  “The research she’s working on should be for the people not for the government.  If she does find a cure, they’d just keep it for themselves.  She can’t be the one to do it.”_

_“So she has to die?!”_

_“For the cause.”_

_The sick bastard looked proud of himself.  He had no remorse, did he?_

_Alex looked him in the eye as she fired her gun into his head._

_The surge of rage began to wear off as she watched the light slip from his eyes.  “Mom,” Alex gasped.  She dropped her gun and ran across to where her mother was on the floor, dying._

_Eliza’s breath was shallow, she had a hard time moving, and was in a lot of pain, but smiled upon seeing her daughter.  “Alex,” she whispered.  “My Alexandra.”_

_“Hold on, mom,” Alex urged.  “We’re going to get you help, ok?”  Alex ripped off her own jacket.  Blood poured from Eliza’s chest, but there was so much of it.  Alex had a hard time finding the wound.  There were two holes in her chest, both uncomfortably close to her heart.  Alex pressed her jacket into the wounds, but the blood kept coming._

_“Alex, sweetie,” Eliza choked out.  “You are so brave.”_

_“No, no no no,” Alex muttered.  “Mom, don’t leave me.  Just hold on a little longer, please.”_

_Eliza’s eyes drifted closed.  She used the last of her energy to squeeze Alex’s hand lightly before it went slack against her._

_“MOM!” Alex cried out.  “SOMEBODY HELP!”_

_It was J’onn who found them.  When he arrived, all he could do was pull Alex’s sobbing figure away from her mother’s body._

Alex laid back in her reclined seat.  She looked out at the vast sea of stars over the desert sky, trying to pick out the constellations she knew.  It had been a while since she had gotten to look at the stars.  There was Delphinus and Pavo… what else was there this time of year?  She couldn’t remember.

Kara was quiet after her story.

“I’m sorry about your mom,” she said, after a while.

Alex nodded.  “It was a long time ago.”

They fell into silence once again.  Alex thought Kara had fallen asleep.

“Do you think Maggie knew?”

Alex blinked.  She’d like to say the question surprised her but that just wasn’t true.  “I think about that all the time,” she sighed.  “I don’t know if she knew, but the fact that she helped the Fireflies knowing what they were capable of… I just—I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“What do you mean?” Kara asked.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Alex muttered.  “When I see her again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm glad fans of the game and those who have no idea what TLOU is can both enjoy. Please comment/like/share; I enjoy validation and want to know when you like the story :)


	3. Part III: The Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Kara arrive at the Fireflies base of operations, but things don’t go according to plan. In order to escape, they need Maggie’s help.

They left before sunrise the next day.  Alex had given up on fixing the air conditioning and with any luck they’d be out of the desert by the time the day’s heat settled in.

The drive was long, it felt endless, until the scenery started to change.  There were more mountains, more green trees and patches of grass, even a few small bodies of water.

“Com Totah,” Kara mused with a chuckle.

“What?”

“That’s what the sign says,” Kara pointed out the green sign on the side of the road.  “Com Totah.”

‘Welcome to Utah’ is what the sign originally said, many years ago, but the letters had faded over time.  So the result was Com Totah.

“Com Totah,” Alex chucked.  “That’s funny.  I think we’ve been on the road too long.”

“Probably.”

As they drove deeper into the state of Utah, Alex grew more and more anxious of her imminent encounter with the Fireflies—with Maggie, if she was still alive.

“Do you think this is going to work?” Kara asked, her voice small and concerned.

“What, the cure?”

Kara nodded.

“I think it’s the best chance we’ve had in a long time.”

“Good,” Kara said, a sad smile on her lips.

Silence fell between them again.  Alex could tell there was something on Kara’s mind, but she didn’t want to press.

“I wasn’t the only one who got bit,” Kara piped up after a while.

Alex glanced over at her for a moment.  Her eyes were sad.  It seemed to be something she didn’t talk about very often.

“My best friend,” Kara muttered.  “Winn.  He was with me.”

Alex cleared her throat.  She wasn’t very good at being comforting but when Kara looked so sad and helpless she was sure as hell going to try.  “What happened?”

“We snuck out to the mall,” she said.  “It was just on the border of our Quarantine Zone.  We’d been there dozens of times before.  We thought it was safe.  He—he figured out how to get the power on so we got to see all the lights and everything.  It was incredible!”  A tear fell from her eyes.  “But I think the lights and sound—that’s what brought them.  There were so many, and we both got bit.”

Alex pursed her lips.  She stayed silent, letting Kara gather herself before she continued.

“We were just going to wait it out, but when he turned and I was still—still me, I had to…” Kara sobbed.

Alex didn’t know where she was but she pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.  “Shh,” she wrapped her arms around Kara and pulled her into a tight hug.  “It’s not your fault.”

 

 

It was early afternoon as they approached their destination.  Alex could see the city outlined on the horizon growing closer and closer.  They passed by buildings more frequently as they entered the outskirts of the city.  And they were running dangerously low on gas.

“If we can just make it a little further,” Alex said, “it won’t be too long of a walk into the city.”

“I’m fine with just sitting here until we’re out of fuel if it means I don’t have to…” Kara trailed off mid-sentence.  “What was that?”

“What was what?”  Alex’s eyes were on the road and she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.  She turned to find Kara facing the passenger window, pointing into city streets with her eyes wide.

“I thought I saw something.”

“We’ve been on the road a while,” Alex said.  “It’s probably nothing.”

“Yeah, sure.”

A few minutes later, a distant snarling sound grew closer.  “Do you hear that?” Alex asked.

“Uh-huh.”

Alex looked behind them to see a horde of infected chasing after their car.  “Fuck.”  She stepped on the gas, doing her best to maneuver around broken cars and debris that littered the streets.

After a moment, they realized that the car was beginning to slow down.

Kara pointed out the driver window and yelped, “Shit, Alex, look out!”

Another group of infected came at them from the left, and the car wasn’t going fast enough for them to outrun them all.  At this rate, they’d be out of gas in a couple blocks.

“Come on,” Alex muttered to herself, pressing down harder on the gas.  “Come on, you can do this.  We’re almost downtown.”

“Alex,” Kara pointed at the hazard button that Lena told them to use in an emergency.  “It’s now or never.”

Alex gripped the wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white.  “Hit it.”

The moment Kara pressed the button, the Jeep lurched forward, carrying them down the street faster than before.  Alex looked behind them and she thought she saw flames coming from underneath the car.  _Lena, what did you do?_

They zoomed forward, out of reach of the infected, and it carried them further and further.

The car started to slow down, but not by much.  Alex noticed at the end of the road, a semi-truck had fallen into the street, blocking their way.  “Shit.”  She pressed on the brakes and it slowed a bit, but they were still barreling right toward the side of the truck.

“Kara, we’re going to have to jump.”

“What?!”

“We’ll be fine!  Just before it hits the truck up ahead we should be slow enough that we can land safely.”  _I hope_ , Alex thought.  It was their only shot.

Alex unbuckled her seatbelt.  Kara followed suit.  They each unlocked their doors and kept a hand resting on the handle.

“You ready?” Alex asked.

“Nope,” Kara said.

They shot closer and closer to the truck, the car slowing down ever so slightly on the way.  “Almost,” Alex muttered as she watched the truck grow closer, larger, in her eyes.  “NOW!”

Simultaneously they flung their doors open and hurled themselves out of the vehicle just before it crashed into the side of the car.  Alex landed on her side and rolled to absorb the impact, but a pain shot through her left wrist.  It hurt, but the pain was manageable and she could easily ignore it.  She got up, dusted herself off, and looked around.  No sign of Kara.

“Kara?” she called out, waving a hand through the air to clear the dust and smoke.  “KARA!”

A cough came from the thick the smoke.  Alex ran in blindly until she caught a glimpse of blonde hair.

“I’m ok,” Kara said.  She coughed some dust out of her lungs.  “That was kinda fun.”

Alex breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Kara into her arms.  She hugged her tight.

The dust soon cleared and they saw the jeep was smashed against the side of the truck.  They would not have survived that impact.

“Good thing we jumped,” Alex mused.  “Come here, I’ll boost you up.”

Alex lifted Kara and helped her climb onto the top of the truck, and she followed quickly after.  They stood, observing the view, figuring out a plan of action.

Salt Lake City was a mess.  The ground ahead of them was overturned, and further on in the distance, the streets were flooded.  Alex couldn’t tell how far or how deep it went.  No infected in sight, yet.  At least that was some good news.

She also spotted in the distance a large building with a cross and silver reflecting windows.  The sign read ‘St. Mary’s Hospital.’

“There,” Alex pointed it out.  “That’s where we’re headed.”

“And how do you suggest we get there?” Kara asked.  “I can’t swim, remember?”

Alex pursed her lips.  “Do you trust me?”

“Would I have jumped out of a moving vehicle for you if I didn’t?”

“Touché,” Alex mused.  She pointed to the cars lined up deeper into the water.  “We can jump from car to car until we get to that porch.  From there, I’ll lift you up to the fire escape that goes along that whole building.  Then we climb higher and go from there?”

Kara looked nauseous at the thought of going that close to this very large body of water.  “Alright,” she gulped.  “Lead the way.”

Alex hopped down from the truck and landed on her feet, splashing in the puddle of shallow water on the ground.  Kara landed next to her a moment later.  Alex climbed on top of a cab that was halfway submerged in the water and helped Kara up with her.  From the cab, she leapt to the bed of a truck.  The truck was tilted forward and gave slightly under the impact of her jump.

“Careful here,” she called out to Kara.

Kara nodded and jumped.  The truck bed sunk into the water just a little more.

They leapt from car to car with no problem, except for the slight tremble and momentary fear it would collapse into the water each time they landed.  Alex wasn’t sure what the car was resting on, but she couldn’t even see the bottom from here.  She took a deep breath.  One more jump and they were at the porch.

“You first this time,” Alex said, stepping aside for Kara to jump to the porch.

When Kara jumped, the weight of the car shifted, and it immediately toppled backward into the water.

“Alex!” Kara shouted.

Alex lost her footing and felt herself being dragged down with it.  She took a breath and held it just before she was submerged.

Alex quickly shot to the side to avoid weight of the car pulling her down to the bottom.  The water was dark and murky, but she could see well enough.  She spun underwater toward the porch.

Something brushed against Alex’s leg.  She looked down to see an infected reaching out to grab her.  Alex squealed underwater, letting out some of her breath, and kicked it away.  She swam as fast as she could to the surface, broke for air, and paddled her way to meet Kara on the porch.

“Alex, are you ok?” Kara asked.  She helped pull Alex onto the curb to sit.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Alex muttered.  “In the water, there’s…”  Alex trailed off as she saw the surface bubbling about five feet away.  She scurried away from the edge of the water, but all that floated up was the lifeless body of an infected.  When Alex realized it wasn’t moving, she sighed in relief.  “It’s dead.”

Alex wiped her dripping hair away from her face and picked herself up off the ground.

“Do you need a minute?” Kara asked.  “We can stop for a second.”

Alex shook her head.  “No, I’m fine.  Let’s go.”  She marched to the end of the porch just underneath the fire escape and gestured Kara over.

Kara frowned, but followed.  She stepped on Alex’s hands and reached up for the ladder, which came down easily.  Alex climbed up after her.

Another building’s fire escape was about five feet away, and it would get them much closer to their destination if they could get there.

“Think you can make that jump?” Alex asked.

“No problem,” Kara said confidently.

She climbed over the railing and jumped to the next building with ease.  Alex was impressed.  “Nice one.”

Alex followed suit and by the time she made it over, Kara was already jumping for the ladder to climb up to the next level.  “Almost got it,” Kara grunted.  She jumped again, hands extended above her head, fingertips barely brushing the rusted handle.  “Come on.”  She jumped once more and this time, her fingers wrapped around the handle and pulled it down with some struggle.

With a triumphant grin, Kara began to climb.  Alex stepped on the bottom rungs to follow her and the moment she did, there was a deafening creak as the rusted ladder jolted, losing some support from the top.  Kara gasped and clung on tighter.

“Shit,” Alex muttered.  “Kara, you okay?”

“Uhh, it’s loose up here,” Kara called back.  “One side is completely off the hinges.”

“How far are you from the platform?”  Alex glanced up but couldn’t get a good view of how close Kara was.  She was too scared any sudden movement would send the whole thing crashing down.

Kara was silent for a moment as she stretched her arms toward the platform, toward safety, but as she did, the ladder creaked again and shifted a little more.  “Uhh, not close enough!”

“Kara, it’ll be ok.  Can you jump for it?”

“But then the ladder will give!” Kara exclaimed.  “How will you get up?”

Alex shook her head.  “Don’t worry about me, I’ll find another way.”

“But Alex—”

“Kara, we don’t have another choice.”

Kara didn’t have a response to that.  She took a deep breath and jumped for it.

The rusty metal screeched as the ladder gave way underneath them.  Alex was close enough to land back on the bottom platform, and Kara was able to clutch onto the edge of the next one, her feet dangling five feet above Alex’s head.

“You’ve got this Kara,” Alex reassured.  “Just pull yourself up and I’ll find a way to get up to you.”

“Ok,” Kara said, her voice shaken with nerves.  She groaned as she lifted herself onto the next platform.  It was slow progress, but she managed to pull herself up and onto the ledge.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief a moment too soon.

As soon as Kara’s full weight was on the platform, another deafening metal scrape sounded.  The old metal gave way, bars snapped, and Kara went tumbling off the edge, past Alex, and down into the water.  The platform itself fell just behind her with a resounding splash that echoed off the walls.

“KARA!”

 _She can’t swim_.

That was Alex’s only thought as she dove in after the girl.

 _Where is she?_   The water was so dark and dirty.  Alex followed the sinking platform to the bottom, hoping Kara wasn’t caught underneath.

She swam deeper and deeper.  The water pressure burned her ears the deeper she went, and finally, she caught sight of blonde hair reflecting in the sun and drifting in the open water.

The strap of her backpack was caught on rebar sticking out of a slab of concrete.  Alex pulled it away and held Kara in her arms.  She kicked her way to the surface.  Her lungs burned with the need for oxygen.  She could see the surface reflecting the sun; it grew closer and closer.  She was almost there.

Alex sucked in breaths of air the moment she broke through.  She searched for someplace, some surface that was flat and sturdy and large enough to hold them both.

 _There_ , Alex saw it.  There was a park nearby where the waterline ended.  She swam her way toward the green grass, kicking to propel them forward.  Carrying Kara, Alex didn’t have much use of her arms.

“Come on, Kara,” Alex muttered, looking at the girl in her arms who still hadn’t stirred.  “You’re going to be fine.”

Finally, she made it to the grass.  She dragged Kara away from the water and checked for a pulse.

…

…

Nothing.

“No, don’t do this!”

Alex took a moment to calm herself.  Her hands were shaking.  Her head still hurt due to a lack of oxygen.  But Kara Zor El was not dying on her watch.

She began chest compressions.  _One, two, three, four, five, six…_   Alex counted them all.  No change.  She tilted Kara’s head back, squeezed her nostrils and blew two breaths into her mouth.  Kara’s chest rose and fell as the air entered her lungs.

“Come on,” she muttered.  “Wake up.”

Alex repeated the cycle again, with no change.

“WAKE UP,” Alex sobbed, “Kara, _please_!”

Alex didn’t even hear the sound of footsteps approaching from behind.

“Step away from the girl and put your hands behind your head.”

Alex ignored them.

The click of a gun made Alex hesitate, just for a moment.  “She’s not breathing,” Alex said.

“Step. Away.”

“I’m trying to _save her life_!”

“Ma’am if you don’t put your hands above your head by the count of three I’m going to have to shoot.”

Alex continued her compressions.

“One.”

She gave two more breaths.  Alex heard distantly the sound of new footsteps approaching.

“Two.”

Checked her pulse again.  Was Alex imagining the faintest heartbeat?

“Three.”

“ _Hold your fire_!”  Alex froze.  That voice.  “I know her.”

Alex didn’t want to believe it.  She turned her head and looked up to see the same wide eyes, dark hair, and dimpled smile from six years ago.  “Maggie?”

The face of an angel was the last thing Alex saw before the butt of a rifle knocked her in the head and she blacked out, unconscious.

 

 

Alex’s head throbbed.  Her eyes were heavy.  She sucked in a breath.  _Okay, I’m alive,_ she thought.  _That’s a start_.  Slowly she wrenched her eyes open.

She was in a hospital bed.  That was weird.  The white, sterile room around her was disconcerting.  Her backpack was gone.  Something else was missing too.  Alex, suddenly wide awake, shot up out of bed.

“Kara?” she called out, looking around.  “Kara!”

“You’re up,” came a small voice from the corner.

Maggie Sawyer sat hunched over in a chair, eyes on the ground.

“Maggie, where is Kara?”

“I missed you too, Danvers.”

“I need you to tell me where she is right now or I swear to god—”

“It’s too late, Alex!” Maggie shouted, jumping up from her seat, finally looking up at Alex with tears in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Alex frowned, confused.

“We analyzed her bite, after we stabilized her,” Maggie said, voice grim.  “That’s why you brought her here, I’m guessing?”  Alex nodded.  “When we realized she wasn’t infected we ran a full body scan and found that there is a small part of her brain that has the infection, but it hasn’t progressed past that, like it’s stuck.  Her body has been able to work around it.  It’s…incredible.”  She sighed.  “In order to study this and make a cure, Lillian says we need to—to remove that part of her brain.”

Alex’s eyes were wide, scared.  “But if you remove that then she—she’ll…”

“She’ll die.”  Maggie’s eyes were empty, sad.  “She’s being prepped for surgery as we speak.”

Alex’s eyes turned forward in a piercing glare.  She jumped up from her bed, stormed over to Maggie, and shoved her hard.  “How could you let this happen?!”

“You think I want this to happen?” Maggie asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Alex said.  “Not doing anything to stop it is just as bad.  Helping the Fireflies when _this_ is what they do?  It’s bad, Maggie.  How could you let this happen again?!”

Maggie’s face fell, and she grew quiet.  “Alex, I—”

“Save it.”

“I didn’t know!” Maggie yelled.  “Not until after we left, and by then it was too late for me to go back.  And even if I had known, I was seventeen.  Do you really think they would’ve listened to some kid?  I’m sorry about what happened to your mom and I wish I could change that, but I can’t.  I think about that every day.”  Alex felt her eyes brimming with tears.  “And I tried to stop this, okay?  I saw how much you care about her.”

Alex wiped a tear from her cheek.   “Y—you tried to stop them?”

“Why else do you think I’m locked in here with you?”

Alex frowned.  She walked over to the door and jiggled the handle.  Locked.  “Fuck.”

There was a window.  She tried to peek through but blinds from the outside were obscuring everything on the other side.  Alex turned back to the room and looked around.  What could she use?  What would work?

“What are you looking for?” Maggie asked.

Alex climbed up onto the dresser and grabbed the old-fashioned TV hanging from the wall.  She pulled away the wires, got a good grip on it and gave it a strong tug.  The arm holding it up broke loose and she staggered and carried it down.

“This,” Alex said, and chucked it through the window.

Glass shattered and sprayed across the floor.  A thunderous alarm began blaring through the building.

Alex turned back to Maggie, hope in her heart.  “Will you help me?”

Maggie smirked, then pulled out a small revolver she had hidden in her jacket.  “Ride or die,” she said.

Alex and Maggie climbed through the window together.

Alex stood up, taking in her surroundings.  They were in a hospital hallway, surrounded by standard rooms.  Alex didn’t even know where to start looking.

“We don’t have long before they find us here,” Maggie said.  “This way.”  She ran down the hall and rounded the corner.  “Your things are probably in the breakroom on the floor.  We get your weapons back and we might stand a chance.”

“And where is Kara?” Alex asked as she jogged behind Maggie, keeping up with her pace.

“The surgical wing is on the third floor.  That’s where she’ll be.” Maggie stopped before she rounded another corner and signaled for Alex to wait.  She took a quick look around the corner.  “Wait here,” Maggie whispered.  “On my signal, come join me.”

“What’s the signal?”

Instead of replying, Maggie jumped around the corner and fired two shots from her gun.  She heard the dull thud of a body hit the floor.

“Let’s go, Danvers.”

“Was that the signal?” Alex asked as she followed Maggie around the corner.  Maggie stepped out of the room with Alex’s backpack in hand, and all her weapons intact.  She handed it over and grabbed the assault rifle from the hands of the dead guard for herself.

“Stairs are this way,” Maggie said, and took off running again.

The sound of fast footsteps approached from behind.  They were almost to the end of the hallway when a voice shouted, “STOP!”  Alex dove to the floor when she heard the hail of gunfire beginning.  These guys had some nasty weapons.  Maggie grabbed her by the shirt and dragged her into the nearest room for cover.

“Stairs are at the end of the hall,” Maggie frowned.  “We have to get past these fuckers.”

Alex peeked out the window to see the guards approaching quickly.  “They’re coming!” she said.  “Take cover.”

Maggie positioned herself behind the counter while Alex dove under the hospital bed.  “The door is small, we can bottleneck them and take them out one by one.”  She aimed her assault rifle at the door and waited.

Alex was closer to the door so she loaded her shotgun and got out a box of bullets, setting it on the ground next to her, ready to reload.

The door opened and all hell broke loose.  Maggie unleashed a storm of bullets, taking down a few guys until the clip ran out.

As soon as she stopped firing to reload, Alex took her shotgun, aimed at the next guy to walk in, and pulled the trigger.  BOOM.  The kick of the gun bruised her shoulder, but all it took was one shot for the guard to stagger forward, dead.  BOOM.  Another guard down.  She replaced the bullets just in time for the next two guys to come in.  BOOM.  BOOM.  As Alex loaded two more bullets, one slipped out of her hand, clinked against the ceramic floor, and rolled out from under the bed.  _Shit._

Alex grabbed another bullet from the box, but before she could load it, a hand wrapped around her ankle and pulled her out from under the bed.  Alex kicked him to no avail.  He picked her up and grabbed her around the neck until—BANG!

Maggie’s revolver was in her hands, smoking from the shot she just fired through his head.  Alex wrenched herself out of the guard’s grip and pulled herself to her feet.

“That was the last one,” Maggie said.  “Quick, before more come after us.”

They left the room and ran down the hall to the stairwell.

Maggie led the way up the stairs.  They climbed up two flights of stairs to the third floor.  The door was closed and there was no window, so Alex pressed her ear to the door.  It was very muffled, but she heard the familiar patter of combat boots on the floor.

“Footsteps,” she muttered.  “Not sure how many.  How do you want to do this?”

Maggie pulled something from her pocket—a grenade.  She pulled the pin and tossed it out the door.  Alex’s jaw dropped.

A few seconds later when the loud BANG went off, a large cloud of smoke immediately filtered into the room.

“Smoke grenade, nice.”

“Come on, we only have a few seconds.”

Alex covered her mouth with a bandana, and Maggie pulled on a surgical mask she had swiped from a room.  They crept into the room.  They couldn’t see through the smoke very well, but they were at least more prepared than these guards had been.

It looked like there were about four guards stationed here, all coughing and covering their eyes.  Alex reached into her boot for a dagger.  She gestured to Maggie that she would take the two on the left and they took off in different directions.

Alex crept up behind one guard who was hunched over coughing.  She grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and slit his throat.  Warm blood poured out of his neck, covering her hands; she dropped his body to the ground.

As Alex turned around, the second guard had noticed her.  He coughed into his arm, and then came toward her.  Alex was ready.  She waited until he was close enough, then as he lunged for her, Alex stuck her knife directly into his eye and twisted.  He groaned in pain and blindly swung at Alex with his fists.  Just for good measure, she kicked him in the balls and rammed her knife into his other eye repeatedly until he fell to the floor, motionless.

By now, the smoke had pretty much cleared and Maggie had also taken down her two guards.

“There’s only two functioning operating rooms on the floor,” Maggie explained.  “One in the east wing and one in the west wing.  We can each take one to cover more ground.  Once we find her, we’ll meet at the elevators and head down to the parking garage.  We can steal a car and get out of here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alex nodded.  “I’ll go east.”

“Then I’ll take the west.”

Alex turned on her heel and headed in her direction.

“Hey, Danvers,” Maggie’s voice came from behind, stopping Alex in her tracks.  She turned her head to see Maggie, feet still planted where she left her.  “Stay safe, ok?”

Alex pursed her lips and nodded.  “You too.”

The surgical wing was mostly empty as Alex jogged through the halls, following signs for Operating Room C.  As she grew closer, she heard distant voices.

“…fully prepped and ready.  Any last-minute needs before we begin?”

“As long as there’s no chance the girl will wake up I think we’re ready to go.”

Alex took off in a dead sprint, following the voices to a room tucked away in a far corner of the hospital.  With no hesitation she kicked open the door to find three startled-looking medical professionals about to cut into Kara’s skull.

The anesthesiologist cowered in the corner as Alex stepped into the room, reaching for the pistol at her hip.  The nurse stood frozen, wide-eyed, hands trembling as she held the surgical saw that she was about to give to the surgeon.  The surgeon, however nervous, stood tall.

“I—I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you t—to leave,” he said.  “This is a cl—closed operation.”

Alex didn’t say a word as she raised her gun and fired a bullet into his brain.  The anesthesiologist screamed.  Alex pointed her gun to the nurse instead.

“Turn off the saw and put it down.”  She obliged quickly.  “Now go in the corner with your friend.”  She backed into the corner and crouched next to the other woman.  “Don’t be a hero,” Alex said, and holstered her gun.

She quickly turned to the operating table where Kara lay, unconscious.  Alex removed the anesthesia mask from her face, and swooped Kara up into her arms.  The girl wasn’t too heavy, so Alex was easily able to pick her up and carry her out of the room.  She closed the door behind her to hopefully deter the two she left alive from following, at least a little bit longer.

Alex ran as fast as she could with the dead weight of Kara’s unconscious body in her arms.  “You’re okay Kara,” she muttered, hoping Kara could hear her.  “Everything’s going to be okay.”

She followed signs to the elevator, hoping she was headed in the right direction.  She hadn’t run into any guards yet, so she was lucky.

The signs led her down the halls and around another corner.  As she rounded the bend, she saw the elevator in the middle of this hall and breathed a sigh of relief.  A moment later, Alex felt a sharp pain and a warm, wet sensation in her side.  She didn’t even register the gunshot until Kara had slipped out of her arms as Alex fell to her knees.

Alex’s vision was dark, and blurry, her side was on fire, she could feel her own heartbeat throbbing in her head.  She reached out blindly, grasping for Kara, holding onto her for dear life as two more gunshots rang out.

Instead of more pain, though, Alex instead felt strong, steady hands grasping at her arms, pulling her up.

“Alex, look at me.”  Maggie’s soft voice pierced through the darkness, and Alex wrenched her eyes open.  She found Maggie’s eyes looking into her own, she felt calloused hands on her cheeks.  Maggie’s voice felt so far away, but she could hear it just enough.  “Alex stay with me.  Just a few yards to the elevator.  I can’t carry you and Kara at the same time.”

Alex grabbed Maggie’s arms and tightened her grip, pulling herself up off the floor.  It was like the world was moving in slow motion, but Maggie’s voice was there to ground her.

“There we go,” Maggie said.  “Lean on me if you need.”  Maggie scooped Kara up into her arms.  Alex kept her grip on Maggie’s shoulder as she led her slowly down the hall toward the elevator.

Maggie pressed the button, and the doors immediately opened.  Alex all but fell through the doors, finding herself on the ground, clutching her side.

“Shit,” Maggie cursed.

In Alex’s blurry vision she saw a large cluster of soldiers file into the hallway.

The elevator doors began to close behind them.

A storm of gunfire sounded.  Alex’s head sank to the floor, and her vision went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the cliffhanger!
> 
> There is one more part left to this story, so hopefully you'll stick around for it! Thanks again for reading/liking/commenting/sharing/everything, I appreciate you all.


	4. Part IV: Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex wakes up disoriented weeks after getting shot. Maggie is still there.

The first thing Alex registered as she slowly stirred to consciousness was the steady patter of rainfall outside.  It sounded like a wooden roof over her head.  She was lying on a soft surface, but there was a rough blanket over her that scratched uncomfortably at her skin.

The next thing she noticed was the pain.

Alex shifted herself, ever so slightly, and felt a jolt of pain in her left side, followed by a dull, constant ache.  “Fuck,” she muttered.

“Danvers?”  That voice again.

Alex wrenched her eyes open.  “Maggie?”

She blinked a few times, her eyelids still heavy from her long slumber.  They were in a small cabin-like structure.  There was a desk at one end, various maps and wildlife photographs on the walls.  Alex appeared to be laying on a couch.  She turned her head ever so slightly to see Maggie sitting on the floor, cross-legged next to Alex, eyes wide and hopeful.

“Danvers,” Maggie repeated, her voice coming out in a soft, relieved sigh.  “You’re alive.”

Maggie was here.  Maggie didn’t leave her.  Maggie _saved_ her.  “You’re here,” she muttered.  An observation, not a question.

Maggie frowned.  “Of course I’m here.”

Alex swallowed thickly; her throat felt dry and itchy.  “How long have I been out?” she asked, voice hoarse from lack of use.

“A few weeks,” Maggie said.  She reached for a bottle of water that sat on the floor next to her.  “Here, drink some.”

She helped Alex tilt her head forward, just a little, and tipped the bottle so the water fell slowly into her mouth.  Alex swallowed a few sips of water, the cool liquid easing the dryness of her mouth, but she couldn’t drink any more than that.

“How are you feeling?” Maggie asked.

“Like I just died,” Alex said with a cough.

“You almost did.”

Alex glanced out the window to see the heavy rainfall beyond the glass, and a thick forest of trees outside.  “Where are we?”

“Yellowstone National Park,” Maggie said.  “I just… kept driving til I ran out of gas and found the best place to hole up for a little while.”

Alex flashed back to what happened.  The Fireflies, the hospital, Kara…

She bolted upright.  “Where’s Kara?” Alex asked.  “Is she okay?”

“Whoa there,” Maggie said, “don’t move too much or you’ll tear your stitches.”

“Where is Kara?”

“She’s fine.  Kara is absolutely fine.  Just lie back down and I’ll explain, okay?”  Maggie’s hands gently pushed Alex back down onto the couch.  “She’s out hunting.”

“She’s what?!”

“Hey, give her some credit, she’s pretty capable,” Maggie explained.  “And you still need to rest.”

Alex gave her a pointed glare, but nonetheless settled back onto the couch.  She kept herself sitting upright and rested her back against the arm of the couch.  She reached out for the bottle from Maggie’s hands and took another sip of water.  “So,” she said.  “What happened?”

“You were shot.”

“I remember that much, thanks.”

“I got us down to the parking garage and stole a car,” Maggie explained simply.  “We got out of there safely.”

“But why haven’t they followed us here?” Alex asked.  “If I know Lillian Luthor, now that she knows about Kara she—she won’t stop until—”

“We don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Maggie took a deep breath.  She stood up and stepped away from Alex, turned her back to face the wall.  “I mean she won’t be coming after us anymore,” Maggie explained, “because I killed her.”

“Maggie…”

Maggie shrugged.  She paced back and forth and fidgeted with her hands.  “I had already burned all my bridges with the Fireflies.  There was no going back.  And she…I couldn’t have her coming after us.  She would never stop, she would kill us both.  She’d kill Kara!”

“Maggie.” Alex called out to her, cutting her off.  Maggie stopped in her tracks and looked at Alex.  “Come here.”

Maggie sat on the edge of the couch, careful not to move Alex too much or jostle her injury in any way.  She kept her eyes on the ground, but Alex reached out and grabbed her hand.  She laced their fingers together and squeezed.

“Thank you,” Alex muttered.  “You didn’t have to help us.”

The corner of Maggie’s lip twitched up in a small smile.  “Of course I did,” she said.  “I wasn’t going to leave you.  Not again.”  Maggie lifted her head and turned her gaze to meet Alex’s eyes.  Alex sighed.  She wanted to yell at her.  She wanted to leave.  She wanted to kiss her so hard that they forgot about everything that happened with the Fireflies.

Maggie seemed to have the same idea as her eyes flitted down to Alex’s lips briefly.  She leaned in, closed her eyes.

“It’s so fucking _cold_ out there!”  The door flew open with a bang, bringing in a gust of icy cold wind and a blonde head of hair.  Alex sighed and turned her head away from Maggie’s lips, who gave a disappointed pout.  It was adorable.

Kara marched inside with a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, and she clutched a rope with two dead rabbits tied to it.  “I am not looking forward to the snow.”  She closed the door, dropped the rabbits on the ground, and wiped her feet on the mat.  “How’s she doing?” she asked, as she stripped off her thick winter coat.

“I feel like death, but I’m alright.”

Kara spun around, jaw dropped, eyes wide with excitement.  “Alex?”

“In the flesh.”

Kara let out a high-pitched squeal and rushed over.  “You’re awake!  I was so worried!”  Alex felt herself grinning, as Kara’s excitement was always infectious.  Maggie moved out of the way just in time for Kara to tackle her in a tight hug.

Pain shot through Alex’s side.  She winced, but she didn’t want Kara to know when she was so excited.

“Oh I’m so sorry!  Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” Alex said through gritted teeth.

“Liar.”

Alex rolled her eyes.  “Fine.  It hurt a little.”

“Just sit back and rest, ok?” Kara said.  She jumped up and rushed back to the door to grab the rabbits again.  “Maggie and I will get dinner together.”

As if on cue, Alex’s stomach let out an angry grumble.  “I guess I am pretty hungry.”

Maggie brushed a lock of hair out of Alex’s face, her thumb lingering for a moment on her cheek.  “Rest up,” she said.  “Kara and I will wake you when food is ready.”

Alex shook her head.  “No, I just woke up,” she muttered, but she already felt her eyelids drooping.  Alex was exhausted, despite having been out for a few weeks, according to Maggie.  Apparently getting shot and almost dying can take a lot out of you.  The last thing she saw before her eyes drifted shut was Maggie’s endearing smile, and she faintly remembered the ghost of her lips pressed against her forehead.

Maybe she just dreamt that one.

Alex woke up a few hours later to the sound of chatter, soft laughter, the crackling of a fire, and the smell of cooked meat.  Alex groaned as she pushed herself upright and opened her eyes.  Maggie and Kara sat cross legged on the floor next to a makeshift fire pit built out of a circle of stacked rocks.  They munched on their food, barely noticing Alex stirring on the couch.

“Please tell me it’s been a few hours and not, like, a few days.”

“Alex,” Kara turned to her with a grin.  “Hey, don’t sit up, you’re still healing!”

Kara rushed over and tried to push her back down on the couch, but Alex swatted her hands away.  Her side throbbed in pain, but it was tolerable.  She was tired of laying down, and if she was going to eat, she would do it with some dignity.  She sat up and leaned against the back of the couch.  Kara sat down on one side of her.

Maggie made her way over a little more slowly, carrying two plates of food.  She sat down on Alex’s other side and handed her a plate.  “Hungry?” she asked.

“Starving,” Alex said.  She grabbed a piece of meat and bit into it, chewing slowly and swallowing, as though her mouth had almost forgotten the motions.

“Not too much,” Maggie said.  “Your body needs to get used to eating again.”

“I know,” Alex muttered with a frown.

While Alex nibbled at her food, swallowing bits of meat slowly to fill her stomach, Maggie and Kara filled her in on their current situation.  They were somewhere in what used to be Yellowstone National Park.  It was around late October or early November, but it was hard to be sure.  Infected were very sparse in this area, so they would be safe for a while, but if they wanted to stay through winter, they would need some warmer clothes and more fortification of their current shelter with its broken windows and holes in the roof.

“We’d also need to get enough food to last through the winter,” Kara said.  “Hunting is going to be more difficult when it starts snowing.”

“Yeah, about that,” Alex muttered.  “When did you start hunting?”

A soft tapping noise started on the roof and the low rumble of distant thunder.  Alex looked out the window to see rain falling lightly outside the window.  Kara and Maggie stood up in a practiced routine.  Kara draped a blanket that had been drawn back over the broken window, while Maggie grabbed a few wood planks and some duct tape to cover the holes in the roof that she could reach.

“Well Maggie actually trusts me with weapons, unlike some people,” Kara snarked.  She wasn’t upset with Alex, just amused.

“And she was evidently smarter than me in that department,” Alex said, getting a laugh out of Kara.

Kara grabbed a pillow and a blanket and settled down on the floor closer to the warm glow of the fire.

“Are you done?” Maggie asked, gesturing to the plate in Alex’s hand.  Alex frowned down at the portion of food left.  She wanted to eat more, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to.  Reluctantly, Alex nodded.  Maggie took the plate from her hands, finished off the few bites of food, and set it aside.

She rejoined Alex on the couch.  “We could go back to Barstow,” Alex suggested.  “I’m sure James and Lena would love the company.”

Kara’s face lit up at the idea.  “Yeah!  That would be amazing.”

Maggie frowned.  “You’re in no condition to travel that far anytime soon,” she said.  “Maybe after winter.”

“I’m fine,” Alex grumbled, and as though to prove her point, she tried to stand up.  _Bad idea_ , she thought, as pain shot through her side again.  Alex gritted her teeth, tried to pass it off for a smile.  “I’m okay.”

Maggie chuckled.  “Clearly.”  She put a hand on Alex’s arm to pull her back to the couch.  “Sit down,” she said.  “Seriously.”

“What happened to the car?” Alex asked, suddenly remembering that Maggie had stolen a car to get here.  “We could drive back to Barstow.  It wouldn’t be as bad.”

“Ran out of gas, remember?” Maggie said with a frown.  “Had to abandon it a couple miles out.”

“How’d you get me here?  And all our stuff?”

Maggie chuckled to herself.  “Kara was the designated pack mule,” she said.  “She was not happy about that.”  They glanced over to Kara who had quickly dozed off in her cozy place by the fire, snoring lightly.  Maggie’s shoulders seemed to relax, just a little, upon noticing that Kara was sleeping soundly.  She settled more comfortably into the couch and tilted her head back to Alex.  “I carried you.”

Alex frowned.  “Maggie,” she sighed.  “You’ve done so much for us.”  She hesitated a moment, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her.  “Why?”

Maggie became tense once again, a distressed frown captured her lips.  “I don’t know how to make it up to you,” she muttered.  “I’ve felt so guilty every day since I left, since I found out what they did.  I never thought I’d see you again, Alex…”  She leaned away from Alex, putting a bit of distance between the two of them.  Her fingers brushed the hair away that fell into her face.  “I don’t know how to make it up to you, but I’m going to try.  As long as you’ll let me, I will be here with you.  I’ll protect you and Kara with my life.”  When she looked back and met eyes with Alex once again, her eyes glistened with tears that threatened to fall.  “I don’t want to lose you again.”

Alex pushed herself up on the couch, just enough so she was leaning forward without her injured side protesting too much.  “Maggie,” she said.  She reached out a hand for Maggie’s cheek, brushed her thumb across the soft skin.  Maggie sighed at the contact, and her eyes found Alex’s.  She knew Maggie wouldn’t meet her halfway, so Alex closed the distance herself, kissing her softly.

After the briefest moment, Alex leaned back.  Maggie looked in a daze, eyes still closed, lips barely parted.  Her eyes fluttered open to find Alex with a small smile on her face, shaking her head softly.

“You won’t lose me,” Alex said.

That’s all it took for Maggie to break down crying.  “I thought—I thought you were dead,” she cried.  “I thought you were dying and I’d never get to apologize.”

Alex held Maggie’s face in her hands and wiped away a few stray tears.  “I’m right here,” she muttered, and kissed her again.  “I’m here.”

Maggie grasped Alex’s shirt and pulled her closer.  She moved her hands up to her chest, her face, until she wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck.  She tasted Alex’s lips, ran her fingers through her hair, held her close, reassuring herself that Alex was here, that she was alive.

Alex sighed into Maggie’s mouth, tongue pressing into her lips.  Maggie’s hot breath mixed with hers, nose pressed against her cheek, the trace of her fingers sent chills down her neck.  Alex pressed into her a little further—and her side erupted in pain.

Alex groaned and pulled away, face scrunched.

“Shit,” Maggie muttered.  “I’m so sorry.”

Alex shook her head.  “Not your fault,” she grunted.  “I’m fine, just a little too much right now.”  She took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly.  As she leaned back, the pain began to ease a little.  “Probably shouldn’t do that with Kara asleep right over there.”

Maggie got up from the couch and ushered Alex to lay down again.  “You should rest.”

Alex pouted.  “I’ll go to sleep on two conditions.”

“Name your terms,” Maggie said, an amused smirk on her face.

Alex cleared her throat dramatically.  “Number one: I’d like a kiss goodnight.”

“I think I can swing that,” Maggie said, grinning now.  “And number two?”

“You kiss me like that again when I’m feeling better.”

Maggie turned beet red but nodded enthusiastically.  “When you’re better.”

With a contented nod, Alex laid back down on the couch and pulled the blanket up to her chin.  Maggie walked over to the fire, now shrunk to small flames and embers, and grabbed a pillow and blanket from a place next to Kara.  She picked them up and brought her things back to Alex, setting her pillow down on the floor next to the couch.  Alex turned to her side to watch Maggie settle herself on the floor.

Before Maggie laid down and got comfortable, she sat, leaning against the couch, laying her head next to Alex’s.  She leaned in for a soft, lingering kiss.  “Goodnight Alex,” Maggie whispered against her lips.  “I’m glad you’re alive.”

“Me too,” Alex muttered.

She fell asleep that night, fingers intertwined with Maggie’s.  Whatever she and Kara faced next, wherever they decided to go, Maggie would be by their side.  Recovering from a gunshot with a thunderstorm raging outside, Alex had never felt more at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the last chapter and sorry it took so long! I've been working on it for a while and wanted to get it posted before Comic-Con this weekend.
> 
> Thank you to every single person who read and commented! I appreciate every comment and I'm glad you guys enjoyed this. I loved writing this story and am very happy with how it turned out. I'm not sure when my next fic will come out but follow me on Tumblr @tatianathevampireslayer to stay updated on the (occasional) happenings of my writing.


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